Measures of central tendency

1. Arithmetic mean
2. Median
3. Mode
Arithmetic mean
The sum of all the values in the
population/sample divided by the number of values
in the population/sample.
x
Population mean μ= ∑N
μ → population mean
∑ ❑ sigma ( summation )
N →total number values
x
Sample mean x́= ∑n
x́ → sample mean
∑ ❑ sigma ( summation )
n → total number values

Types of data
Parameter is characteristic of population values
statistic: is a characteristic of sample values

Example 1
The six students in Public administration .Their final
course grades are 92, 96, 61, 86, 79, and 84.
a. Is this information parameter or statistic? Why?
 b.Compute the arithmetic mean
Solution
a. This is information is a parameter, because it is
population values
x
b. μ= ∑N =
92+96+61+ 86+79+84 498
6
=
6
=83.

Example 2
Verizon is studying the number of monthly minutes used by clients in
a particular cell phone rate plan. A random sample of 12 clients showed
the following number of minutes used last month
90 77 94 89 119 112
91 110 92 100 113 83
a. Is this information parameter or statistic? Why?
b. What is the arithmetic mean number of minutes used last month?
Solution
a. This is information is statistics, because its sample values

x́=
∑ x = 90+ 77+…+83 = 1170 =97.5
n 12 12
the number of minutes used last month

MEDIAN
The midpoint of the values after they have been ordered
from the minimum to the maximum values

The steps of median

Arrangement
a. If odd numbers pick the middle value
 b. If even numbers pick the average of two middle value
Example 3
The following data is the price of commodity
$65,000, $60,000,$80,000, $275,000and $70,000.
Find the median of a price
Arrangement
60,000, 65,000, 70,000, 80,000,275,000
(n+ 1)th 5+1 6
Median position= = = =3 rd
2 2 2
Median = 70,000.
Example 4
A sample of 10 adults revealed they spent the following number
of hours last month using Facebook.
3 5 7 5 9 1 3 9 17 10
Find the median number of hours.
Solution
Arrangement
1 3 3 5 5 7 9 9 10 17
th
( n+ 1) 10+1 11
Median position= = = =5.5th between 5th ∧6th
2 2 2
th th
(5) +6 5+7 12
Median= = = =6
2 2 2
Example 5
Referring in Example 4
Find the mean number of hours.

Mode is the most frequently